Monday: This week
is College Week and each day this week you’ll learn something
new about college. EVERY student at this school can go to college. With hard
work, nothing can get in your way.

Tuesday: Did you
know that there are over 25 colleges in the Nashville area? Your teachers have
gone to some of them: Vanderbilt, Lipscomb, Fisk, Trevecca Nazarene, and TSU.
You can learn more about these and other colleges at the college fair tonight
at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds from 3:30-7:00pm.

Wednesday: Did you
know that in college you pick a major to study?. Think of it as your favorite
subject. In college you get to pick your own classes. For example, if you want
to learn more about animals, you will take classes on animals. If you want to
learn more about computers, you will take classes about computers

Thursday: Did you
know that college graduates earn, on average, about $20,000 more a year than
people who don’t go to school after high school? That means going to college
could earn you almost one million more dollars in your life than if you don’t
go! Also, remember that tomorrow is College T-Shirt and Colors Day. Wear a
college t-shirt or a polo in your favorite college color tomorrow.

Friday: Did you
know that the creator of Spongebob Squarepants has two college degrees, one in
marine biology and one in animation? There are so many amazing jobs that you
can get with a college degree.

2. Non-Fiction ChallengeAs mentioned in Monday's announcement, students who checked out a non-fiction book from the library during college week got a chance to score a bookmark for our local NHL team that also served as a "buy one get one" ticket coupon. To be eligible, students had to turn in a super short worksheet of sorts (with their name, the book title, and one question about the text) when they turned in their book.3. Related Arts Collaboration - Computers ClassWe worked with our computers teacher to collaborate on 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th lessons. One thing counselors in our district are tasked with is helping boost students' technological skills and so we relish any opportunity work with her and infuse college/career/SEL into computers class. For the 3rd/4th lesson, students visited the Monsters University website and then completed a pretend "college application". The website went down for a year or two but IT CAME BACK! And then it was down again.4. Related Arts Collaboration - Everyone ElseAn email that went out to our other related arts teachers:

"Hey! Next week is College Week. If your lessons are not set in stone, it would be awesome for you to incorporate something college-related into your classes next week. Below are some ideas off the top of our heads that fall in line with your area, but y’all probably have even better ideas.

Art: design your own logo/mascot or college pennant or discuss art-related majors or do an art activity with them that you did in a college art class

Music: learn/discuss fight songs or discuss music-related majors

Health: learn about the kinds of food in college cafeterias (even more delicious than elementary cafs!) or discuss health-related majors

PE: Discussion or YouTube videos on things you can study in college if you love physical education, some sort of college trivia activity where students use movement to indicate their guesses/answers, watch a segment of a college sporting event and then discuss 1) how awesome it is to go to these and how students get to go for cheap and 2) what sort of skills they saw the athletes use that they've learned in PE (overhand throw for example), discuss the different club sports/activities at a school like UT (i.e. How can you stay fit and have fun in college?) and then play some of them. Discuss/recreate “mini” college bowlsPlease let us know if you’d like any help/support from either of us in this!"

5. Bulletin BoardAbout two weeks before college week, we asked all faculty and staff to complete a short google doc survey about college (major, degree, extracurriculars, etc.). My co-counselor made a bulletin board with graphs from the data and then classroom teachers were given a handout with extension questions (generated by our numeracy coach) to talk to their students about when they pass the board.

**In the last couple of years, I've updated these plans quite a bit and added more visuals to them so they would work for younger grades as well! To find them ready-made, check them out here in my TpT store.

Last year I really scrambled to put together a college week; this year I had bigger plans and a super co-counselor who was as passionate as me about really rocking the college and career components of our program this year. Our school's daily schedule is TIGHT (I mean, can't-cram-anything-else-can-barely-fit-science sort of tight) and so we knew that any programming needed to integrate into what was already happening in our classrooms and curriculum. One of the ways we managed this was through creating Morning Meeting plans (sans greetings) for the week. This is the overview for the plans for my 3rd and 4th graders (though I think this could work for 2nd-6th):

Monday:

Activity

College Mythbusting

Share

What are some colleges you’ve already heard of or know about?

Message

“This week is a special week called College Week. I went to college at ______ to study _______. What is 1 thing that you already know about college?”

Tuesday:

Activity

I Have, Who Has w/Local Colleges

Share

Who is someone you know that is in college or went
to college?

Message

“Yesterday you thought about what you already know
about college. Today, think of 1 question you have about college.”

Wednesday:

Activity

Inside/Outside Discussion

Share

If you were creating a college, what would you call it?

Message

“Colleges come in all shapes and sizes. Some are in the country, some are in the city. Some are old, some are new. Some are big, and some are small. Have you ever been on a college campus?”

Yes

No

I’m Not Sure

Thursday:

Activity

Majors A to Z – going around in a circle, students take turns naming things starting with A to Z that you might be able to study in college. Teacher matches what was said with a major of study (ex: Student says “castles”, teacher says “European history”. Student says “Macaroni and cheese”, teacher says “Culinary arts”.)

Share

What do you think you’d like to study or major in in college?

Message

“In order to get into college and graduate from college, you need to be college-ready. One part of being college-ready is being a strong writer. What other ways can you be college-ready?”

Friday:

Activity

Three Corners

Share

What did you learn about college this week?

Message

“Each and every one of you is capable of going to
college – I know you can do it. Sign your name on this message if
you’re planning to go to college.”